ASTRID'S SHAMEFUL SECRET

This winter, the next book in the Waterfire Saga, Dark Tide, will reach Spain.
Our merls have forged a Resistance movement.
And more of their lives unfurls before us...

Ling is in the hold of Rafe Mfeme's giant trawler, on her way to a prison camp. Becca meets up with Astrid and learns why the Ondalinian mermaid is always so angry: she is hiding a shameful secret. Ava can't return home, because death riders await her arrival.

Political intrigue, dangerous liaisons, and spine-tingling suspense swirl like a maelstrom in this penultimate book in the WaterFire saga.

Ling a POW in a POW camp? Ava can't return home? Becca learns Astrid's secret? 

Seven Gods!

 What thrills me more is discovering Astrid's secret, and more about her background and those of the other three Lesser Known.

I can't wait for Christmas!!!!!!!

But, like the Starks say, WINTER IS COMING...

WATERFIRE HOGWARTS AU

Ava is dark-skinned and visually impaired. Wise, witty and somewhat blunt, both sassy and well-organized. Which she has learned to be on account of the discrimination she has suffered. Wise, witty, frank and prescient—with glossy black braids and sunglasses... she can feel things she cannot see... and never flinches from what she feels. Ava has inherited the gift of prescience or foresight... though seeing the future may be rather dangerous...
Her skin is a warm chocolate shade, she's got high cheekbones, her favourite colour is shocking pink, she wears countless little braids (her hair is styled in countless braids) and rarely takes off her round shades, beyond which a pair of golden eyes are cataracted. With her rapier wit and outsider past, she is the Tyrion Lannister of the AU.
Ava is wise, witty and honest—total bestie material. She’s the girl who’s not afraid to say what’s on her mind—oh and did we mention she can see the future?
For Ava, blind since childhood...

Ling, a shy village girl, is an omnivoxa (able to speak any language of any species), though she gets better along with animals and plants than with humans. She is rather straightforward when she talks. She is also a vegan and a firm believer in pacifism. She is obviously skilled in Creature Care and Herbology, though terrible at DaDA, for she'd rather befriend "dreaded beasts" than confront them. With a gentle but powerful nature and a keen intellect she’s not afraid to show, with almond-shaped eyes, high cheekbones, and a sword in a scabbard slung over her back. She is ethnically Asian, with long raven hair that she keeps in two odangos. Her family is rather large, and her father went missing a couple of years ago... Her grandmother Wen, the shaman of her clan, encouraged her to go to Hogwarts and cultivate her powers. When she was a child, they mocked her because she could talk to flowers and hear them speak. She does not need to study all of those languages... she simply needs to hear them spoken. 
Ling is soft, peaceful and smart. She uses her brains and gentle nature to communicate with plants and animals. And she can also speak any human language.

Becca: Fierce and quick, quick-thinking... with curly red hair, blue eyes, and a smattering of freckles. She also wears glasses and is left-handed. Rebecca Quickfin thinks quickly and soon she finds out that she can control fire. A gift or a curse? Maybe a token that she is, as she thinks, illegitimate? She fights in the Gryffindor Quidditch team as its captain, is rivals with Astrid for as long as they have known each other... Under pressure, the shying bookworm becomes a violent and moody tomboy who will never leave a friend on his or her own. She has curly red hair kissed by fire, blue eyes, a nice smattering of freckles... She wears golden spectacles as well, and she is left-handed. Some say she is brave, others say that she is foolhardy. Nevertheless, she can be organized and efficient: like any born leader. And she is always honest. Her parents are deceased, and she is muggle-born. She also has a part-time job in the workshop of Honeydukes (I am serious!). She wants to attend university and then run her own business, to make many other people happy. Yet she lacks self-confidence and hasn't got much of a spine, being very quiet and often overlooked, as most bookworms are in fiction. However, she is also colourful and laughing, unusually lively.
She nearly always wears her trusty time turner around her neck.
Becca is definitely somebody you want to have on your team. She’s fierce and thinks fast on her feet . Her ability to innovate makes her a key player.
Becca is a powerful songcaster who can control fire. Sort of. She can’t seem to turn it up or down without burning her dress and singeing her hair.

Astrid: Headstrong, bold, and possessed of a deep well of magical power, Astrid Kolfinnsdóttir—with cascades and braids of white-blonde hair, icy blue eyes... has always been a loner and a military brat. Astrid has long, white-blonde hair, in two ornate braids running along the sides of her head with the rest of it loose, and icy blue eyes. Like her father Kolfinn, she has always turned away from group work. You can see by the way she acts that she is an officer's daughter. She keeps her platinum blond hair in a pair of thin French braids at the sides, the rest of it flowing free. As impulsive as her rival Becca (whom she despises due to the redhead's muggle descent vs. her own pure blood), she is a brilliant yet insufferable student who got kicked out of the Slytherin Quidditch team due to her impressive ego and a duel gone wrong: she will never say no to a duel, whether if she is the challenger or the challenged. And she can be ironic and show some sense of humour when it needs to. This ice-eyed one can sure wield a sword... but are her healing powers for real? And will she regain her role as captain of Slytherin? Well, she never backs from a fight, and will break ere she bends.
Astrid is nearly always sarcastic and negative, employs military metaphors, and fears that she may actually be a squib, for her powers have not awakened yet, leaving her to use a sword instead of a wand, being exceedingly skilled in the use of cold steel.
Not many of her relatives are known, except her father Kolfinn and aunt Sigurlin (Kolfinn's sister). She is later on revealed to be a squib (what ashames her the most), to have a brother called Ragnar, and that her mother is still alive.
Astrid is the oddball of the bunch. She’s bold and headstrong, but deep-rooted issues keep her from trusting the girls at first.
Then there’s angry, aggressive Astrid. That girl has a lot to learn—mainly that her biggest weakness can become her biggest strength.

One possessed of a prophet’s sight.
One who does not yet believe,
Thus has no choice but to deceive.
One with spirit sure and strong,
One who sings all creatures songs.

I actually had it a little hard to assign houses to Ava and Ling, but I think now I have made the best assignations. Besides, Astrid Kolfinnsdottir has previously appeared in my Game of Wands AU as a Beauxbatons student whose father is both a military man and headmaster of Durmstrang (she represented Beauxbatons in the Tournament). But this is another continuity.
My fave is Ava, Becca, or Astrid, I can't decide. Let's start with my fellow Ravenclaw. She's had to be strong because of her ethnic descent and disability. When the glasses come off, she is shocked. They have always called her either "blindie" or "chocolate girl". That's a heck of stress. That's why Ava is conversing with Becca in a way reminiscent of Jon and Tyrion at the start of Game of Thrones Arc I: "If they call you names, make them your names". Ava is the Tyrion character, the one who survives through all discrimination. That's what I like about Tyrion, about Ava, about the extremely Ava-like Toph Beifong, et cetera.
To see Astrid develop her rivalry with Becca into frenmity has also been satisfying. They're both hot-headed, though Astrid appears cooler. Also, Slyth vs. Gryff, ice vs. fire, brawn vs. brains, righty vs. lefty, squib vs. muggleborn prodigy... Completely foils to one anothers.
Besides, Sera and Neela appear as Beauxbatons exchange students. Just a cameo. And Sera's mother is the headmistress of Beauxbatons, making Sera a "lieutenante de diréctrice", Neela's aunt being the vice headmistress, which gives Neels the same status.
To see how Astrid, who bullied Ava at the very start, develops... No matter what they say, Astrid Kolfinnsdottir is now one of my personal gods. I ship her with Luna Lovegood, Enjolras (first-named René in my works), Jaime Lannister, Ava, and of course Becca (Lunastrid, Enjolstrid, Jaistrid, Avastrid, Beccstrid). Even more ships, even threesomes, may be launched (Oberstrid, Renlorstrid, Charlestrid [with Charles XII!], Whitlockstrid, Ty Leestrid, Finnistrid...) It appears that Astrid has dethroned Jaime as my Launcher of 1000 Ships. 
Though Jaimienne is my straight OTP, I have nothing against JaimexCersei, JaimexLoras, JaimexOberyn, JaimexSansa, JaimexLuna, or JaimexAstrid.
There will also, pretty soon, be a shipping crossover fusion fic with Othello characters starring Oberyn and Astrid, with Jaime in a supporting role, as either Iago or Cassio... Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley will also appear...

WATERFIRE SAGA REVIEW: SETTINGS, CHARACTERS...

The Waterfire Saga, that merfolk epic by Jennifer Donnelly, has recently come up in Spain:

The story is about feuding kingdoms of merfolk coming together to face a common threat. There were a couple of places and characters that made me SQUEE, so here are the fact:

SETTINGS!!

Tsarno, a fortress town in the western Mediterranean. 
So outpostly!! So Küstrin-like!! And with a Slavic name, in a Mediterranean kingdom... also spells C-R-O-A-T-I-A!
the fortress at Tsarno.
Also, there are villages in all the kingdoms, and rural areas called Barrens...
(The only con is that the Colleggio, the in-'verse university, is located in the capital of the realm, instead of in some more provincial community... at least so I thought in Book I, the second has revealed that there IS A UNIVERSITY IN TSARNO!!!)
Ondalina, the mer realm in the Arctic waters

CHARACTERS
Each of the heroines was from a different nation and had a different power. 
There were two girls... well... merls in the team of heroines that caught my attention: Astrid, the Nordic and the warrior (a healer), 

Astrid has long, white-blonde hair, icy blue eyes... she wears a long sealskin vest embroidered with silver thread and scabbard made from sealskin hanging from her waist, her hair is in two ornate braids running along the sides of her head with the rest of it loose. Astrid is rather fond of dueling. In Deep Blue she is also shown to have skills with throwing a ball as well as having a good sense of humor, despite her tough exterior.
Astrid is shown to be very brave and tough. Also, she doesn't back down from a fight. Deep inside, Astrid was afraid of the dangers and admitted that she couldn't choose how to use her magic. Astrid, unlike the other mermaids, doesn't use much magic, she prefers fighting with her sword. She is demonstrated to have great sword skills, shown when she cut off one of Abbadon's hands.
LONG STORY SHORT: CHUCK NORRIS IS SCARED STIFF OF ASTRID KOLFINNSDOTTIR.

and Ling, the clever omnivoxa or polyglot (an Asian). 

Astrid comes from the North/Arctic/Scandinavia, and she's the tomboy/warrior/Rainbow Dash/Brienne of the team... 
There's also another character, Becca, who appears to be both a nerd, a bookworm tomboy... and the Applejack kind of career- and family-oriented character so rarely found in magical girl series. Becca is a firebender with nerd spectacles and a university student to whom her career is the most important thing...
Becca carries a pocketwatch around her neck. She wears a plaid dress with a high collar.When she is first introduced in the book, she wears gold-rimmed glasses, a pearl necklace, hair combs and carries a travelling case. She used to work after school at a pearl shop, where they put songspells in pearls and released them. Her full name is Rebecca Quickfin, she is an orphan, and left-handed.
She describes herself as 'nobody' and 'invisible', showing that she isn't very self-confident and is also very quiet. It is said that she often tries to please her mother. Becca is colourful and laughing, with a keen attitude for learning. 

And Ava, the visually impaired Afro-Brazilian one endowed with a prophet's sight. Rapier wit due to outsider status (both race and disability), much à la Tyrion Lannister! Due to her powers (she is a seer and a clairvoyant in spite of being visually impaired) and her sarcasm, she reminds me of Toph Beifong...

while Lin, the clever and gentle bookworm, has the power to speak and understand all languages in existence (human, animal, or even vegetable!!)

Ling is from Qin and speaks and understands all language due to her descent from Sycorax; she’s an omnivoxa, One Who Sings All Creatures’ Songs with a responsibility to speak Truth. 

Kingdom of Ondalina
Based in the Arctic. Admiral Kolfinn seems to be the ruler. Astrid is his daughter, and a descendant of Orfeo (the healer god). She was supposed to be part of the hostage exchange.
Kolfinn's sister, Sigurlin (she has got an aunt as well) is also mentioned.

Astrid, Kolfinn's daughter... She appears to gbe a real badass. You know I love Brienne of Tarth and Rainbow Dash. Well I've got another character on my hit list:

Astrid yelled, defty ducking the missile.
"Where does this crazy little tour end, anyway?", Astrid called out from the back.
Astrid had gone back to bouncing her caballabong ball.
"Nevermind. Just forget it", Astrid said. "I can't be part of this nutsy little playdate any longer. The realms are on the verge of war, in case you haven't noticed".
But Astrid didn't listen. With a warrior's roar, she swung her sword at the monster...
But instead of talking, Astrid brusquely pushed back her.
Suddenly, a blur of black and white flashed past them. It was Astrid, moving with deadly speed. "Not If I can help it", she growled.
"This is totally insane", Astrid said.
"Nothing", Astrid said brusquely. "It's been real. Good luck with it all." She tried to swim out of the study, but two armed frogs blocked her.
"Astrid, you are totally out of line!", Ava said. But Astrid didn't listen.

On Ling and her omnivoxa powers:

"I can speak Dracdemara, his language. I'm an omnivoxa"
She was born an omnivoxa, and her magical powers strenghtened her gift.
She could speak not just many languages, but every language. Not only human tongues, but those of animals, trees, and flowers.
Ling had tears in her eyes.
Ling said "Uh-oh".
A hand closed on her arm. It was Ling.
"Great", Ling said.  looking over her shoulder. 

Astrid and Ling having good chemistry?

"Astrid, you're funny", Ling said when the laughter had subsided. "Who knew?" "Don't tell anyone", Astrid said, bouncing her ball again.
- Les Opafago dévorent leurs victimes vivants, tu sais ça ? lança Astrid. Pour que leur coeur continue de battre et de faire circuler le sang. Ca rend la chair plus juteuse. 
- Astrid, tu es mon rayon de soleil, dit Ling en sautant de la table où elle était assise.

Then we’ve got Ling, who can speak almost any language underneath the sea, which I think is awesome, she’s more of the quiet type.
Astrid, Admiral Kolfin’s daughter of the Ondalina.

Ling is soft, peaceful and smart. She uses her brains and gentle nature to communicate with plants and animals.
Astrid is the oddball of the bunch. She’s bold and headstrong, but deep-rooted issues keep her from trusting the girls at first.

I could as well be Ling, who’s so smart, but I’m probably Astrid, who’s obstinate, tactless, and quick-tempered.

Ling, forte e gentile allo stesso tempo, con un acuto intelletto, non ha paura di mostrare con orgoglio la spada che porta sulla schiena. Parla fluentemente le lingue di tutte le creature, persone, animali, fiori e alberi. Sempre pronta a mettere pace e abile negoziatrice.

Becca, impetuosa e veloce con i capelli rossi e ricci, gli occhi azzurri e le lentiggini.

Ava, spiritosa, sincera, capace di prevedere il futuro, con lunghissime trecce nere e squame marroni, indossa sempre occhiali da sole e ha per animale domestico un piranha che tiene al guinzaglio, sa predire il futuro.

Astrid, testarda, coraggiosa e in possesso di poteri magici potentissimi, con lunghe trecce bionde e gelidi occhi azzurri, ha striature bianche e nere simili a quelle di un’orca. Astrid è tagliata fuori dal gruppo ma saprà riconquistarsi la loro fiducia mettendosi in gioco in prima persona per il bene del popolo marino.

Tsarno is a fortress.

GIVES ME AN IDEA FOR FANDOM (TSARNO AS SETTING, OR LING AND ASTRID AS CHARACTERS, OR SOMEONE BEING AN OMNIVOXA... Astrid captive at Tsarno, Lin arrives, what else can ensue then?)